Compromising Debt-Ceiling Facts

Big Lie Number Two was the 2nd of a Tea Party Patriots 4-part series of debt-ceiling-related statements. It shows, before President Obama made such a claim, the fallacy of statements about the US defaulting on debts if Congress doesn't raise the ceiling.

Fact: not raising the debt-ceiling will NOT cause the US to default on its promises. The IRS collects 10 times the amount it owes to service its debt - specifically US Treasury bonds - every month.

Refusal to do so (paying off cashed-in bonds) would in fact cause a financial crisis the globe has yet to see. But insisting to twist facts for political gain, Mr. President and those who blindly re-chirp your claims, is irresponsible at best.

Refusing the raise the debt-ceiling is like a parent informing their child the credit card they've been privileged to use is being capped to a limit or in this case, being revoked. It does NOT mean they will no longer be able to pay the mortgage.

The President decides which bills get paid and when revenue streams are anemic, something has to give. Defaulting on promises to pay certain bills (bonds) have a different impact than paying others - like, I dunno, let's say Obamacare. 

So yes, if the President stopped paying our debt, we'd be in a heap of trouble. But that would be his choice, not Republicans.  And if Obama chose not to pay Social Security, or Medicare/Medicaid, or any other entitlement program, that would also be his choice, not the Tea Party.

We are in this financial crisis because Democrats DID NOT pass a budget in 2010 (they knew the political impact) and yet they still promised, with the Nation's credit card (stimulus, et al) the adults are taking away, much more than they could afford.

The adults in the room realize government has over-promised goodies for their political special interests. Meanwhile, the children are jumping up and down, whining about a lack of "compromise" from the Tea-Party-led-by-their-nose-hairs-GOP and their false claims of defaulting on our debt are a clear indication of their desperation.

Oooooo, sorry, wrong answer. The kids will not get what they want. There is no more room for compromise.

Big Lie Number Four

Tea Party Patriots is releasing a four-part series of statements regarding the U.S. debt ceiling which explain the organization's opinion the topic. Here is part 4:

Big Lie Number Four

"The intricate financial details of running the entire United States Government are so complicated that the average American just isn't capable of understanding how it works.  It involves thousands upon thousands of byzantine and interwoven variables that are so delicately balanced they can be easily disrupted by one false move, setting off a cataclysmic chain reaction of economic disasters that will cripple the world's monetary system. Handcuffing congress by not allowing us to raise the debt ceiling just shows how simplistic, unsophisticated, ill informed, and child-like you Tea Party Patriots are.  Those of us in congress are far better equipped to make these kinds of decisions.  So just go back to your daily lives and let us run the country."

When you're standing face-to-face with a member of congress and they tell you how great they are at running the economy, it's difficult not to laugh so hard that you temporarily lose consciousness.  But many of them manage to say it with a straight face.  It's almost as if they honestly think they know what they're doing.

To a Congressman, the thought of taking budgetary advice from average Americans who balance checkbooks, run businesses, live within the limits of their financial means, and stop spending before they run out of money is outrageous and insulting.

They are the rulers after all.  Who are we to question them?

But deep within the subconscious mind of every Congressman is the truth.  They are horribly insecure because they are in way over their heads, they have very little idea what they're doing, and they are scared to death that someone (especially their other buddies in congress) will discover that they secretly don't understand the convoluted logic.  So they all pretend.

It's time to snap them out of it.

Ockham's Razor is an old, widely used axiom that says when you have two competing ideas
the simplest idea is usually the best.  This is especially true when there's no evidence to support the more complicated idea.

Let's look at how Ockham's Razor applies to the debt ceiling issue.

IDEA 1 (from congress):

It's so complicated that we can't explain it to you, but trust us we should raise the debt ceiling.

IDEA 2 (from Americans):

It's incredibly simple. There's no more money.  So do not raise the debt ceiling.

Congress has a really, really, really bad track record when it comes to managing money. There are no examples of real life situations in which congress was prudent, frugal, and efficient. There's also no proof that congress learns from past mistakes and doesn't repeat them. Their complicated solutions haven't worked, ever. But they keep trying them.

There simply is no evidence to prove that congress is qualified to make unsupervised decisions about how to handle our money.

On the other hand, there is plenty of evidence that millions of Americans (the ones congressmen think are unsophisticated) successfully operate households and businesses every day and have done so for over 200 years using a very simple financial principle.

When you run out of money,
stop buying stuff.

Ockham's Razor

Idea 1 = complicated + no proof

Idea 2 = simple + lots of proof

Idea 2 Wins!!

Congress, you're out of money.
Stop buying stuff.
And don't raise the debt ceiling.
PERIOD.

Big Lie Number Three

Tea Party Patriots is releasing a four-part series of statements regarding the U.S. debt ceiling which explain the organization's opinion the topic. Here is part 3:

Big Lie Number Three

Members of the republican "leadership" will tell you this lie.

"Raising the debt ceiling is inevitable; and the democrats want it so badly they're willing to give us some really great deals in order to get it. We can take advantage of it and get some cool stuff in exchange for our votes. It'll be great!"

Frighteningly, many of the republicans in congress trust the promises made to them by their fellow members. They haven't learned that there always turns out to be a loophole, or an "unforeseen" circumstance, or just an outright betrayal that ends up benefiting socialism and thwarting conservatism.

When is the last time anyone can remember the republicans making a "deal" with the democrats that didn't result in the American people getting shafted?

To some it appears that the democrats repeatedly lure the republicans in with promises of bipartisanship and goodwill. Then when they've gotten everything they want, the democrats whack the republicans over the head with a two by four and break their deal, leaving the republicans bewildered and Americans saying, "we told you so."

To others it appears that both republicans and democrats have neither the desire, the intelligence, nor the will-power to solve the problems with our government. They simply want to stay in office and enjoy life in the ruling class.

In either case, here's the message we want republicans and democrats to hear from the voters in their districts:

You Raising the Debt Ceiling EQUALS...

Me Voting for Your Opponent in the Primary and in the General Election

Raising the debt ceiling is not good for America, no matter what deal you think you're getting in exchange for it.

If you want a balanced budget amendment, pass a balanced budget amendment AND DON'T raise the debt ceiling.

If you want big spending cuts, pass big spending cuts AND DON'T raise the debt ceiling.

If you want the Capitol cafeteria to sell pizza on Friday, just ask the chef AND DON'T raise the debt ceiling.

Do you see the simple beauty of this pattern?

The point is, find another way to get the "deals" that you want without selling your vote on the debt ceiling.

PERIOD.

Big Lie Number Two

Tea Party Patriots is releasing a four-part series of statements regarding the U.S. debt ceiling which explain the organization's opinion the topic. Here is part 2:

Big Lie Number Two  

"There's no way to cut enough spending. So we must raise the debt ceiling. If we don't raise it America will not be able to pay back its creditors and the rest of the world will never trust us with money again. It will be a disaster!!!"

Fact:    The problem is not that congress can't cut spending. The problem is that congress doesn't want to cut spending.

There's a big difference.

The United States Government is addicted to spending money.  It is a gluttonous, greedy, vulgar addiction that makes drug addicts look stable by comparison.

If you lock a heroin addict in a nice room, provide him with everything he needs to live, but give him no more heroin, what happens?  He panics.  He will become totally irrational, scream, cry, beg, plead, bargain, lie, steal, and (given the chance) maybe even kill to get more drugs.  It would be difficult to watch him go through the painful process of breaking the addiction.  But if you care about his future, you know that you cannot trust the words that are coming out of his mouth.  It's the addiction talking.  You stand strong and cut off his supply until the addiction is broken.

It's time to lock the government in a nice room.  We will care for it and give it everything it needs to live.  And because we love America, we're going to stand strong and force it to break the addiction.

The truth is that the spending can be cut quickly and in a large enough amount to avoid blowing past the debt ceiling.

At the end of President Clinton's term in office (just 10 years ago) the government was operating with a budget surplus.  Some debate the specifics; but no one can debate that spending was far lower than it is now, and the economy was much better than it is now.

During President Bush's term in office federal spending climbed and climbed.  Government grew faster and bigger than it should ever be allowed to do.

President Obama has had the credit card for only 28 months.  And in that time the government has grown more than it did under all previous Presidents added together!

Common sense dictates that if it can be pumped up that quickly, it can be cut back quickly too.

Many of the things that will have to be reduced are popular government programs that politicians fear cutting.  But we cannot continue to survive as a country if we fail to properly manage massive government programs because they're considered "sacred cows".

The "sacred cows" have run off into the wild and are going to starve to death if we don't bring them back into the barn.

We've also got a few diseased "mad cows" (like Obamacare) that just need to be put down in order to save the herd.

Mr. President, Senate, & Congress;

We are not going to let you raise the debt ceiling.

So stop asking.

Now move on and deal with the spending problems.

PERIOD.

Four BIG Lies

Tea Party Patriots is releasing a four-part series of statements regarding the U.S. debt ceiling which explain the organization's opinion the topic.  Here is part 1:
 

Big Lie Number One:

 "Bush created all of these problems.  We are trying to solve them but it's much worse than we thought and it will take years for our solutions to have an impact."

There are numerous facts available to disprove this. But two of the biggest and best are:

Fact 1

President Obama increased spending and the size of government more than all previous presidents (from George Washington through George Bush) COMBINED.

President Obama created that problem and he should own it.
  
Fact 2

The number one, most important job of the House of Representatives every year is to create a federal budget. Under Nancy Pelosi (while Obama was in office) the House did not create a federal budget. They didn't even try. They did, however, write endless blank checks for Obama to use on his wild spending spree.
  
The liberal congress created that problem and they should own it.

We are hitting the debt ceiling because they went nuts with the country's credit card for the past 28 months.  It's not someone else's fault.  The problem was created quickly and it can be solved quickly by cutting spending and cutting up the credit card.  Raising the debt ceiling will only make it worse. PURE AND SIMPLE.  Don't buy it when they tell you it's more complicated than that.